Description
Drew Ann Wake, Writer and Director Drew Ann Wake is a film maker and new media artist who began her career with CBC North and the National Film Board in Yellowknife, NWT. She covered the Berger Inquiry from 1975-77 and then worked on the independent documentary, The Inquiry Film, which won the Canadian Film Festival award for Best Documentary.
Against the Odds documents the remarkable achievements of Thomas R. Berger in the legal field, including his pioneering work in advocating for Indigenous rights that courts in Canada and the US had previously overlooked. Mid-career, Justice Thomas Berger accepted the challenge of leading the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry in Canada’s Northwest Territories. He organized the Inquiry to give northern First Nations an equal voice in the proceedings by holding thirty community hearings in which all were invited to participate. Berger’s careful, reasoned arguments prevailed time and time again. Later in his career, Justice Berger led public hearings into the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), focusing on its impacts on Native Alaskans. Against the Odds also features an exceptional gallery of full-colour, previously unpublished photographs of the Dene and Inuvialuit, taken by Michael Jackson KC, Special Counsel for the Berger Inquiry, and portrait photographer Linda MacCannell. This book contains 32 Colour illustrations.